Toronto Maple Leafs vs. St. Louis Blues Prediction, NHL Odds
The Maple Leafs are priced as -175 favourites on the NHL odds.
Maple Leafs vs. Blues NHL Betting Odds
Tuesday is the first of two regular-season meetings between the teams with the Blues visiting Toronto on Jan. 3. The split last season in high-scoring matchups with each club winning on the road and scoring six goals in doing so.
Alexander Kerfoot (3A) led Toronto with three points in the series, while a handful of others had two points, including John Tavares (1G, 1A) and Auston Matthews (1G, 1A). Matt Murray is expected to start in net Tuesday, and he is 2-4-1 in seven career outings vs. the Blues with a 3.68 goals-against average and .884 save per centage.
Robert Thomas (1G, 3A) led St. Louis with four points vs. the Leafs and a few others had three each. Jordan Binnington, who should start here, allowed six goals on 40 shots in his one outing.
The road team has won the past four in the series, but Toronto still is just 8-20 in its past 28 in St. Louis.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto comes out of the break with 48 points, second in the Atlantic Division and eight behind league-leading Boston. The Leafs are +374 to win the division, +508 to win the Eastern Conference and +826 to end the NHL’s longest Stanley Cup drought. They come off a 4-3 home win over Philadelphia last Thursday. Ilya Samsonov made 16 saves to tie a franchise record for most wins at home to start a season (9-0-0). Calle Jarnkrok (sixth goal of season), Mitchell Marner (13th), Michael Bunting (ninth) and William Nylander (20th) had the goals. Nylander also had two assists and was the No. 1 star. He has a three-game goals streak. Marner extended his home point streak to 14 games. The Maple Leafs outshot the Flyers 26-8 through the first two periods. Toronto is 8-2 in its past 10 after a win.
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis has 34 points, is fifth in the Central Division and has a minus-19 goal differential on the season. They lost a second straight entering the break, 5-4 in a shootout at Vegas on Friday. The Blues led 4-3 late in the game but allowed the tying power-play goal with less than two minutes to go in regulation. Vladimir Tarasenko — who scored the one Blues goal in the shootout — had a goal and two assists, and Pavel Buchnevich (goal, assist) and Torey Krug (two assists) each had two points. Jordan Binnington allowed four goals on 32 shots to fall to 12-11-2 with a 3.14 GAA and .896 SV. Winger Jordan Kyrou (16G, 16A) has missed the past two but might return Tuesday. The Blues are 1-4 in their past five at home.
